Let's Talk: National Volunteers Month

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You're listening to locally produced programming created in KU NV studios on public radio K, u and v 91.5. The

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content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Unknown Speaker 0:26
Welcome to another episode of Let's Talk UNLV Hey

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und 91.5 You're here with Tanya and a Leisha. Today we are joined by Erika Choa, the program coordinator for UNLV volunteers, a student led service RSO housed within the Office of Student Learning and Leadership. Hello, Hello, Eric. Hello, hello. Hello, Eric. Thank you so much for joining us. You know, we would love we'd like to start by hearing your origin story. How did you come to this work? How did you come to UNLV? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Unknown Speaker 0:59
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Erika. My pronouns are he him his I am a well, so I'm like around 30 of 33 editors, Adri but Vegas, thank you so much. Most of you in Vegas, you know are originally from California. So like just like all those other folks. I'm also from California, but I moved here when I was like two or three. So where I'm going with that is basically I Vegas kid, you know. So I did my I did, did high school here did my undergrad here and I graduated with a graduate graduate degree in Public admin here at UNLV. When I graduated, my undergrad, I did it in political science. So I was always really involved with a lot of like advocacy work and a lot of work around like doing service and helping folks out. So when I was doing my master's here at UNLV, I saw an opening here for a graduate assistant position in the office of service learning and leadership. And it was very much like supervising students to put on all these service programs, which came very naturally to me, because as a former organizer, you know, it was a lot of organizing volunteers. So when I just hopped along, been here for four years now, so I was a graduate student. And now I'm the program coordinator. That's a little bit about myself. Wonderful. So you

Unknown Speaker 2:15
so so I hear you say that you were you were you originally came from California, but you've been here since you were like two, I think technically, you get to claim it now. And it sounds like your idea raised and bred here. And this and it also. And it also sounds like a lot of what you're doing is just part of who you are, in terms of volunteering and so forth and so on. You know it? Yeah, go ahead.

Unknown Speaker 2:43
Yeah, it's just kind of something that I naturally fell upon, you know, doing a lot of work around, especially around advocacy around food and housing insecurity, that kind of stuff. So it just came very naturally to me in this role.

Unknown Speaker 2:58
So, you know, as we're expanding on that question, you know, what, what, what are some of the benefits of volunteering? What drew you to wanting to be volunteer, because we just had another conversation with a lovely woman who runs an organization for veterans, and we were talking about the idea of service, and volunteering as a form of service. So what are some of the reasons that people should consider volunteering?

Unknown Speaker 3:24
You know, I think I think beyond just the general goodness of it, and building, I think, for me, the important the part that I really found through it is just the community that you build, right? It's a lot of community building. And I think oftentimes here in Vegas, it's very difficult to find and build communities, especially if you're out, you know, further away from for most folks. I think, for me, volunteering has always been just building communities, helping people around you, that kind of like altruistic sense that kind of comes from it. And it's very, very motivating. But beyond that, to you know, students, oftentimes, something that we tell a lot of our students is that, you know, jobs, for the most part are looking for folks with job experience. And oftentimes, we can use those service hours that you do to put into words, you know, helping out with something as like, for a super job experience. So that's kind of the thing that we we've talked a lot a lot about, is that not only is it that altruistic sense of like also just building community and helping people out. But also just using it as a way to supplement job experience, especially for resumes, especially for new grads.

Unknown Speaker 4:31
Love it, love it, love it. What do you think Eric motivates people to actually want to volunteer? I know, for me, I like to give back but for other people, what do you think motivates them to actually want to volunteer?

Unknown Speaker 4:45
I think I think giving back is a big one. But also I really do believe in that strong sense of camaraderie and community building that comes from it. I think oftentimes, we're very alienated from one another or we're very marching around circles, and we can build bubbles around that. And it's important to, to get out of that bubble and experience what it means to be a part of a community member, what it means to help other folks out and like, not only help them out, but also kind of learn about like, the impacts of homelessness or stuff like that, and, and what we can do to actually alleviate that and address those problems. You know,

Unknown Speaker 5:25
you're not so funny that one of the things that I was thinking about that I hear often and I've actually even read in books is that service to others is good for your mental health. It pulls you outside of your own experiences, it broadens your opportunities for connection. So even from an even from art and less. So if the altruistic place says that I do this service, because I want to help and serve others. But even from a less altruistic place, the idea that being involved with and connected with other humans is actually good for you. You know, so you have the form the connections, you have an opportunity to express practice gratitude. Because sometimes we get so caught in our own world, that we don't recognize how fortunate we are, until we have until we serve someone else whose circumstances are less ideal than our circumstances are. So, um, as you mentioned, those benefits, you know, I think that's another additional hidden benefit is it's good, it is good for you as it is for your community.

Unknown Speaker 6:25
I think that answers the fact that, you know, what, if I don't think I have enough time, you know, but having the desire to not only want to connect, but also having a sense of, hey, we make time for things that are important. And so I don't think it's about quantity is really quality in what you're doing right time. Yes. And here. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 6:45
Which is a great question. So, you know, there are folks that would say, Well, you know, my life is very full. I don't have space for anything else. So what would you say to someone who says, you know, I really just don't have the time to volunteer?

Unknown Speaker 7:01
That's absolutely, that's absolutely fair. I think our time is very valuable, right, I think we all like to dedicate our time, especially comes come from work, especially if you have kids or anything else, you know, our time is very, very valuable. And what I can what I would say, though, that there's other means to get involved, oftentimes, a lot of organizations now especially with the pandemic, they've moved to some sort of some form of like remote service, like writing letters, you know, or something like that. But also, along with that, there's also plenty of other ways to get involved as like money besides Time, money. So very important, a lot of like nonprofits and other community orgs are very strapped for resources. You know, it's, it's not particularly profitable, for the most part. So they're not most factor loaded on terms of money, but you know, donating money buying, checking out what a wish list is for, or, for example, for Nevada partnership for homeless youth. Oftentimes, they have, like, we're trying to build like hygiene kits. And if you have the money to buy 100, so bars or something to distribute to homeless youth, then you know, that's, that's a quick way to contribute as well. So I think, besides just time, money is a good way to also contribute it.

Unknown Speaker 8:14
You know, you you made some really valuable points, because, you know, when we think about what we have to offer, we don't often think as broadly about what we have to offer. So I can't give my time, can I give up my resources? Can I give up my connections? Can I give up my voice? Yeah, I'm supportive, can I advocate for or share this information to people who may have the time. So I'm glad that you expanded the idea of service around volunteerism to be bigger than I show up at a building and I serve soup? You know, it's bigger than that.

Unknown Speaker 8:49
I love that. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 8:52
I was gonna say, I think you brought up a great point. Advocacy is also part of it, right? Bringing awareness. Those are good ways to also do also volunteer.

Unknown Speaker 9:02
Now, Eric, you being the, I want to say the expert in this matter. And in this conversation, what would you suggest? So if the person's thinking about volunteering, what do they need to think about before they design the site? Excuse me to volunteer? What are some things they should consider?

Unknown Speaker 9:20
I think they should consider time how much time they have, how much they want to dedicate to it. And then once they decide that as well, I think it'll help them also figure out what do they really what kind of order they want to work with, you know, if they want to do something a little bit more direct, because they have more time, direct service oriented, you know, work with maybe distributing meals, if they are, you know, more strapped for time or things like that, you know, maybe working with other orgs who are just who just require you to or not require but are asking for donations. You know, I think I think figuring out how much time you have available and then If that helps you kind of figure out well, you know, I have so until the time I want to work with something that requires a little bit more time. And this is the org for me.

Unknown Speaker 10:06
Awesome. Does UNLV so I know you work as the coordinator for the volunteering program, but how strong are the community partnerships within your department? So do you all have different resources or different organizations that you work with in the community? Even though you're here on campus?

Unknown Speaker 10:23
Yeah, we do. I believe last year, we work with almost close to 30 community partners across I think, maybe 1520, events, service events, wow. But we get we've worked with, you know, a variety of works from from related to environmental issues, to org, such as a Catholic charities that doesn't work around homelessness, or junior achievement that does work around youth and education. So we focus, we have five different impact areas that we do a lot of our work around. Those five are food and housing insecurity, youth and education, environmental health and wellness, and then one that's just called general basically, anything that's not the other four. And we do we do a lot of work with them across the the I want to say just Clark County and beyond this, because, you know, we'll we'll work in Mount Charleston or work in slum Canyon, for example. So, yeah, awesome.

Unknown Speaker 11:15
You know, it's so funny. I love that you mentioned that, because that was the other thing, you know, when we were talking about, you know, how do you decide, use several of the things that you mentioned, spoke to passions, you know, what are you passionate about what communities do you want to impact? Which areas do you see yourself wanting to make a change, and when you talked about, you know, donating toys to kids, you know, kids are my love language, like the idea of having helping young people to have as normal as a life as possible, even in abnormal circumstances, is a beautiful thing. So I love that you're partnered with all these different agencies that offer people different avenues to support so that they can decide, you know, maybe I this is the thing where I want to put my energy and effort where I feel the most skills where I feel the most qualified. So which brings me into my other questions. You know, people often think, well, what what do I have to give? Like, how, how can I be useful in any real way? What would you say to someone that says, you know, I don't know that I have the gifts or abilities that are necessary to do these things, or to be part of these agencies.

Unknown Speaker 12:27
You know, I really want to stress cuz I think that's kind of a lot of the important work that we do here, too, is also just awareness to issues. But when you mentioned earlier, like, you know, talking about learning about these issues and advocating for these communities, like I think if if you feel like you're strapped for time, or, or you just don't have as much resources, then I think just talking about these problems, talking about the issues, getting the word out exposure to it, learning about it, I think that's a great way to do it. Beyond that, you know, as well as just serving, coming with an open mind to a lot of these things, and you're willing to learn and willing to help out. I think those are all great, great things to do and great skills to have.

Unknown Speaker 13:11
Awesome, awesome. So So again, so so be informed, is one of the things you recommended, and be open and amenable to trying different things, because you may think that this isn't an area where you have a skill, but when you show up, it may feel different than you think it's going to be

Unknown Speaker 13:29
right at all times. Yeah, that's what happens. I think that's why the exposure part is very important, because people will, you know, like, Oh, I didn't think about it this way, or that kind of broke down a lot of like my own.

Unknown Speaker 13:43
Now, what makes UNLV volunteer organization different from the other organizations that are very similar to yours? What would you say to the listeners, what sets you all apart from other organizations within the community that serves some of the similar needs that you have?

Unknown Speaker 13:59
I think what sets us apart is a couple of things. One, were student led. So a lot of the service events that are being put on, like, I don't put them on from the students that I that I like mentoring, and lead with, they do things that they're passionate about. So they're there, they very much are very dedicated towards environmental issues, social justice, around climate change, or social justice around youth education. So it's, it's all from like the beginning, from the marketing to everything, it's all student led. I think the other thing too, that kind of separates, so is that we, we like to frame it within a social justice setting as well. So we frame service around either being a short term kind of band a right, we recognize that these a lot of these social inequalities exist. And the service that we're providing is not a long term solution. It is just meant to address, you know, food insecurity, or, you know, somebody being hungry or being just thirsty period. So what we'd like to do about it, as well as also advocate for long term solutions, so social justice to things like housing insecurity or food insecurity or, you know, educational disparities amongst marginalized communities. So that's that, I think that's kind of like the big difference from other service or it's, for example, you know, you could go work with some other org, and they probably won't do an educational portion to it. Whereas we like to actually provide educational portion talking about, you know, homelessness rate amongst LGBTQ students, or LGBT LGBTQ youth, for example, and what contributes to it. I

Unknown Speaker 15:37
love that social justice land. And I like the idea that you're not just volunteering to feel good, we want you to understand the contributions that you're making, exactly, and how this impacts the greater need across us. And I love the student need part, the student led part actually particularly speaks to me as well, because I feel like this is a great, a great learning ground. For our young people. We're catching them as they're entering the beginnings of adulthood. So they have an opportunity to be shaped by these experiences. So I'm glad that it is also student led student run sort of a thing. So what where are the areas that you have the most urgent needs in terms of volunteers, or in terms of advocacy, or even in terms of funding?

Unknown Speaker 16:27
I think I think it's really more more volunteers. You know, I think it's very difficult University is big, and it's very difficult. And every office is doing their own thing and promoting things. So I think oftentimes, students are just bombarded with information. So our stuff gets easy to it's easy to get lost. And I think for the most part where we're having, where we could definitely use some help plays with just having people volunteer and serve. And I know right now, it's very difficult times, it's like toward the end of semester, and students, juggling time and all that. But you know, there's always a need for service, there's always a need to help other folks around. And if you have the time, you know, we have our dash events, which are one of the longest running traditions here on campus. We make basically like meals, we packed we prepare some meals and go hand them out to the Salvation Army during their lunch hour. We have one coming up on Monday that their teams and we could always use a couple more volunteers for that. So I think if anybody has the time and has the, the, the space to provide some of their service, and that's, I think, the most urgent need,

Unknown Speaker 17:31
can you expand? Can you expand a little bit on the dashes the dash events? Like, there's one, how often do you have them? And because that way, if this program gets aired, multiple times, somebody wouldn't have missed an opportunity. How frequently do your events occur?

Unknown Speaker 17:48
They happen twice a month. So typically, they're on from during the semesters when they're when students are in session, here. They are twice a month, typically on Fridays. The Fridays kind of depend on availability. And then you know, sometimes there's a Friday where it's like Nevada, Dave, so we can't do it then. But for the most part, it will be from 1115 to there's two shifts, 1115 to 1230 is the meal prep shift, and then from 1245, to about 330 or so we'd go deliver the meals, and then also provide some service to the kitchen over at the Salvation Army. So I think the best way to keep up with it is just to keep up with our Involvement Center page and see what blitz Fridays we have available.

Unknown Speaker 18:33
That's good. I was actually going to actually work on I found out more information here. So you have the involvement page. And what about your social media handles?

Unknown Speaker 18:42
Right, yeah. So Obama Center page is very good for that it has all of our events besides dash as well. But our social media, through our Instagram page at UNLV. SLL, is also very, very helpful. I think that's where you'll find a lot of not only our marketing for events, but also some of the other stuff that our office puts on. And then something a little bit more fun from time to time now than just a regular marketing. Mentor

Unknown Speaker 19:05
sounds absolutely wonderful. So we have a few moments left of our time, and we want to sort of yield the floor to you to share any information that you would like to share, or answer any questions that you would have liked to answer that we didn't ask for this timeframe. So the floor is yours.

Unknown Speaker 19:23
Well, thank you. Well, I just want to thank you all for having me. I do want to say that I think service oftentimes gets very it's a very daunting task to donate your time and sometimes even money, but I think everybody is capable of doing it. And I think not only is it helpful for folks to participate in it, but I really want to stress the community building part. Not only are you building community with people outside of UNLV, but also with your fellow students as well. I can't tell you how many times I've had students who apply for our position because they attended a couple of dashes or they did something else and they're like, You know what, I really like it. I liked it. people that I've met, we have so many repeat folks as well. So I strongly encourage you all to participate and join us and just come in and 10 one, you

Unknown Speaker 20:08
know, one of the things that I was thinking about, as you were saying that is, do you have a short story that you'd like to share of someone who had a volunteer experience that was different than they imagined?

Unknown Speaker 20:20
Yeah, so um, I believe, like, so this was actually when I was more of a graduate assistant. But we had a students who, who came in here, and they had a lot of typical stereotypes around homelessness. You know, oftentimes, they just felt like people were particularly lazy, or, or they weren't, they were in that position because of their own fault that aren't doing and I think, oftentimes, that's dealing with challenges. A lot of times with regards to, you know, talking about, for example, one common thing that I could talk about is, like 40% of Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless, from experiencing homelessness. And, you know, oftentimes, they absolutely would challenge us but to attend, so very productive conversations with me and with my with them at the time program assistance, they would kind of lower their guard a little bit and participate more. And eventually down the line, we got them to actually, after convinced talking to him, and we convinced him to go attend, one of the delivery shifts, and the student did like a one ad was very helpful was very eager to get involved to provide work, not only did he want to work with a kitchen, but then he wanted to also, you know, go out and he would talk to some of the community members. And he was very thankful about it and said, like he, it changed his mind about it. He said, You know, I talked to some of these folks. And, and a lot of them are people who are employed already in you know, and they just can't make ends meet. Because, you know, the wages are just not meeting up to what it means to pay for an apartment or something like that, or they had a health issue. So it was a very impactful thing. And that percent student ended up actually becoming a volunteer, regular volunteer at the rescue mission. So when I think about those impactful stories, and like the work that we do, and how you can help break down those barriers, that's kind of the first example that comes to mind.

Unknown Speaker 22:16
You know, thank you so much for sharing that story. I love the idea that it changed, the perspective has changed the life reoriented someone's direction, you know, because I think sometimes the barrier, one of the barriers to volunteering is, I don't know what to expect. So what might a student expect if they were to, you know, contact your office about volunteering,

Unknown Speaker 22:39
what they might expect us to hearing from another fellow student who's going to talk to them, meet with them look like them and join our programs. Like I mentioned, like, I think oftentimes, it's, you know, there's that barrier of like an older man, like older than the rest of the student body. But it's cool that they have other fellow students who look like them, talk like them, and they can expect just hearing from them. And they can expect having, building a lot of camaraderie with other fellow students as well. So not only that, but also, you know, being learning about service and learning about just these issues. So I think that's kind of what they can expect.

Unknown Speaker 23:15
I love it. Now, as we are coming down to just a few more moments of the program. What would you say, Eric? What do people like most about volunteering? So we talked about some of the downsides, or the fears, or some of the barriers that rely between people who actually get involved. But then what are some of those positive stories? What do people like most about volunteering here?

Unknown Speaker 23:38
Think besides, I think, besides just giving back, um, but I think I think that camaraderie that they build with other fellow students, oftentimes, they're, you know, they, we get students who are not, don't know each other, they're not coming in groups. So I think they oftentimes make a lot of friends. I mean, a lot of the workers here will work with us and get to know them. And, and I've seen so many bonds created from it. It's been, it's been fantastic. It's actually really, it's one of the most fulfilling parts just to see the bonds that are built and the friendships that are made. You

Unknown Speaker 24:11
know, as you mentioned, that one of the things that I consider is there's the community that extends outside of the university, there's the camaraderie that they have inside of the community. And also, I was thinking that if there was somebody who was not familiar with here, it's actually an exposure to different aspects and a better understanding of Nevada, because not everyone is familiar with the Nevada landscape. And it sounds like you provide them with an opportunity to connect with each other and to connect with the community at large and also to be more informed and involved about how how Nevada moves and then which ways that they can support the residents here.

Unknown Speaker 24:53
Yes, absolutely. That's one portion of that to that, that. I that you kind of miss. sat on a lot of times, at least for myself that I don't think about. But for newer students who are newer to the state, that's a quick way to also get familiarized with more of the things that you don't see immediately, you know? Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 25:10
Well, we have so enjoy. And we have to definitely do a part two and expand upon different activities that will be taking place in the upcoming future. You did mention we are coming to a close of our semester here. But we've enjoyed you taking the time out to share more about your department and the power of volunteering. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 25:26
thank you so much. So just one more time for our listeners. How do they get connected? And what's the best way to reach you?

Unknown Speaker 25:34
Yeah, so the best way to connect with us is follow our Instagram page at UNLV SLL. They can also see all of our events and upcoming events through our Involvement Center page, just look up unil volunteers. And if they ever want to reach out to me, I am in the third floor of the Student Union. Very happy to have any students who ever want to meet. Just feel free to come by.

Unknown Speaker 25:56
Wonderful. Thank you so very much for your time. Pleasure. Well, thank you so much. And that is a wrap.

Dr. Renee Watson 26:07
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